A woman was recently arrested for stealing from her employer — and using the money to pay back an employer she’d stolen from previously.

Got that? Here are the details:

Kathy Foer-Morse worked as a paralegal for a law firm in Norristown, Pennsylvania. She was recently fired, arrested and charged with stealing $100,937 from the firm. Allegedly, she’d been writing herself fraudulent checks from estate accounts the firm managed, the Pottstown Mercury reports.

Police said Foer-Morse was sending the money to her previous employer, a law firm in New York City. She owed them restitution after she was caught stealing $285,000 while she worked there.

No word on whether the firm knew about her past when it hired her, but we’re guessing she found a way to hide it from them.

Almost one fifth of all employees admit to taking supplies, according to a survey by Spherion. Mostly, it’s pens, paper, folders, etc. No surprise there, but here’s the kicker: 8% said they’ve taken higher priced items like laptops, PDAs and cell phones. That’s up from 3% last year.

Why do people steal? Of the people who admitted to grabbing items:

• 33% said their boss said it was OK
• 18% said the company will never miss them, and
• 42% said simply that they needed the items.

Nevertheless, 76% of the survey’s respondents said they thought it was wrong to take supplies. The study doesn’t mention how many thought it was wrong but did it anyway.

Take the recent example of a Canadian grocery store chain. Two of its employees were fired recently for talking about how they stole from the company on a social networking site.

Termination seems like a natural reaction when an employee admits to theft. But in this case, the employees had a defense: The posts were jokes. They never actually stole anything, and no one could prove they did.

The company didn’t buy it and stuck with its decision.

Fact vs. fiction

The story raises an interesting point: How can employers separate fact from fiction when they snoop online? If a worker or applicant brags about illegal or just plain stupid activity on Facebook, does it matter if it’s a joke — or is the fact that they were boneheaded enough to post it in the first enough to warrant discipline or rejection?

What about cases of mistaken identity? If someone has a common name, could it be possible you’re looking at someone else’s profile?

We’d like to hear from you: Do you go online to find information about your employees and applicants? If so, do you verify that info? And how do you use what you find? Let us know by dropping us a comment.

An IT worker recently pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and admitted to stealing “12 or 15″ computers, monitors and other pieces of equipment from his former employer.

Many of the hot items were sold to co-workers. Others found their way to local pawn shops and eBay.

It took a full six months from the time of the first theft before the higher-ups realized the devices were missing. Once they did, they called police and the guy was arrested. He’s now free on bail.

What’s he doing while he waits for his trial? Apparently, “Computer thief” looks alright on a resume, because he’s now working another job while trying to pay his old employer back.